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Good news from CPEC…but is it enough?

Some good news from CPEC which has finally started to pay dividends in the form of economic benefits. At a recent economic summit in Hong Kong, Shaukat Aziz announced that the project has added 6,000 new jobs for Pakistani workers. This is good news, and noting that that statistics are incomplete means that the number could even be higher. However, even though this is good news that should be appreciated, one has to ask whether it is enough.

Institute for Policy Reforms (IPR) released a fact sheet earlier this year that pegged the number of unemployed in the country at approximately 5.3 million. Official government statistics put the number at 3.6 million, but as IPR explains those are probably under-reported. Even if the official numbers are correct, though, it means that so far CPEC has had virtually no immediate impact on employment in Pakistan.